GK and Current Affairs Updates

First time 2 Indian cities have been selected in UNESCO's Creative City Network.Varanasi and Jaipur, selected as the City of Craft and City of Music respectively.

About Creative Cities Network.
-  Created in 2004.
- Aim: to promote cooperation with and among cities which have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
- 69 cities are members of this network.
- Objective of the members: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.
- The Network covers seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Arts, Media Arts, Film, Design, Gastronomy, Literature and Music.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network aims to:
• strengthen international cooperation between cities that have recognized creativity as a
strategic factor of their sustainable development;
• stimulate and enhance initiatives led by member cities to make creativity an essential
component of urban development, notably through partnerships involving the public and
private sectors and civil society.
• strengthen the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services;
• develop hubs of creativity and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and
professionals in the cultural sector;
• improve access to and participation in cultural life as well as the enjoyment of cultural goods
and services, notably for marginalized or vulnerable groups and individuals;
• fully integrate culture and creativity into local development strategies and plans.  

The Central Government today signed Memorandum of Understanding and documentation for establishing three Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) at Ranchi, Nagpur and Pune. These IIITs will be operated on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode with participation of State Government and Industry, apart from the Central Government.
- Motive: to bring out high quality IT manpower required for building up IT industry in the country.

At the 12th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), Naseeruddin Shah was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.Other winning actors: French actress Catherine Deneuve, Egyptian actor Ezzat Al Alayli and French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila 

About Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF)
- Started in 2004
- It is an influential platform for Arab filmmakers and like talents at an international level.

Salman Rushdie is the recipient of the Mailer Prize for lifetime achievement in 2015.He is the author of "Midnight's Children," ''The Satanic Verses" and other novels.He is a former president of the American chapter of PEN, which is a literary and human rights organization. 

About Norman Mailer Prize/ Mailer Prize
- It is an American literary award established in 2009 by The Norman Mailer Center and The Norman Mailer Writers Colony. 
-Aim: to celebrate writers and their works.

National Green Tribunal(NGT) has banned registration of new diesel vehicle in Delhi, also renewal of registration of vehicles with age of more than 10 years. It is done to curb the pollution of the city. The verdict also contains the order for the central and state government must stop buying diesel cars in Delhi. These will be interim steps till the next date of hearing on January 6.
About National Green Tribunal
-Established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 .
-Established for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
-It is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues.

Dilip Kumar was honoured with the Padma Vibhusan award. Union home Minister and Maharashtra's Chief minister were present at his home when he received it. The announcement to honour Bollywood veterans Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and a few others with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan award was made by the government on the eve of Republic Day on January 25, 2015.
About Padma Vibhusan Award
- It is the second-highest civilian award.
- Instituted in 1954.
- It is given for the "exceptional and distinguished service", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.
- It excludes those working with the Public sector undertakings with the exception of doctors and scientists.
- It is announced every year on the eve of Republic Day.

A New Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on suspension of collection of taxes during pendency of Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) has been signed between India and South Korea. This MoU will relieve the burden of double taxation for the taxpayer in both the countries during the pendency of MAP proceedings. 
- Both sides also noted that transfer pricing dispute cases will be taken-up for MAP under the revised DTAA between India and South Korea. 
- This is a step towards ease of doing business in India for Korean companies as it will relieve economic double taxation and promote cross-border trade and investment.

About MAP (Mutual Agreement Procedure)
-It is an alternate dispute resolution mechanism that allows competent authorities of India and its treaty partner to negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement.

The vaccine is approved by Mexican government.
- It is named as  Dengvaxia.
- It is designed to protect people in the age group 9-45 from all four subtypes of the virus.
- Some Facts about Dengue
1. 13th june is celebrated as the Anti-Dengue day.
2. Dengue is also known as the breakbone fever.
3. It is a vector borne disease : transmitted by various mosquito species , primarily by Aedes aegypti. It can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases. 
 It is transmitted through:
a. Organ donation of an infected person.
b. Blood donation of an infected person.
c. Pregnant infected mother to child at birth.

It  is celebrated on 10th December every year to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 as the common standard of achievement for mankind. 
- slogan for this year: ‘Our Rights..Our Freedoms…Always’ 
convents have been launched:
1. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and 
2. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- Conventions signed by India:
1. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 
2. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 1966, 
3. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979,
4. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, and 
5. Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2007. 

About National Human Right Commission of India
- Formed in 1993
- It is an autonomous body.
- It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
- The NHRC is the national human rights institution, responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights.
- Composition:
The NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) consists of:
1. A Chairperson , retired Chief Justice of India
2. One Member who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India
3. One Member who is, or has been, the Chief Justice of a High Court
4. Two Members to be appointed from among persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights.
 

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare along with Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development released the “India Health Report: Nutrition 2015” and “Global Nutrition Report” at a function ‘Made in India: Good Nutrition for All.
Findings of the report:
1. Stunting, wasting and underweight rates of India's children have declined, especilly during the last decade, but still exceed levels observed in countries at similar income levels.
2. The rate of improvement in nutritional status has not kept pace with India's significant gains in economic prosperity and agricultural productivity during recent decade.
3. India ignores the problem of undernutrition and its impact on child development as its peril and risks large economic, health and social consequences for fututre generations.
4. India's undernutrition problem is a serious threat to child development.

Different Schemes to improve health and malnutrition status of the country
1. Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY)
- Approved in 2006.
- Aims: 
1. Correcting the imbalances in the availability of affordable healthcare facilities in different parts of the country in general,
2. Augmenting facilities for quality medical education in the under-served States in particular.
- Phases
1. First Phase
setting up of six institutions on the line of AIIMS; and upgradation of 13 existing Government medical college institutions.
2. Second Phase
setting up of two more AIIMS-like institutions, one each in the States of West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and upgradation of six medical college institutions.
3. Third Phase
To upgrade the existing medical college institutions.

2. Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
- It promotes safe motherhood under the National Rural Health Mission (NHM).
- Objective: reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among poor pregnant women. 

3. Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)
- Launched on 7th January 2014 to reach out to 253 million adolescents - male and female, rural and urban, married and unmarried, in and out-of-school adolescents with special focus on marginalized and undeserved groups.- The programme expands the scope of adolescent health programming in India - from being limited to sexual and reproductive health, it now includes in its ambit nutrition, injuries and violence (including gender based violence), non-communicable diseases, mental health and substance misuse. The strength of the program is its health promotion approach.

4. Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram
- Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- Aim: to eliminate out of pocket expenses incurred by  pregnant women and on sick new borns, by having access to services at Government health facilities.

5. National Iron Plus Initiative
- Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)
- Aim: to work on the prevention and control of anemia in India.